The Big Red (scoring) Machine KANE scores 3.54 placing him in the middle of the pack between Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar, amusingly.
Wrestler
Rating
Chris Jericho (3)
4.69
Kurt Angle (2)
4.55
Mick Foley (10)
4.55
Macho Man Randy Savage (12)
4.37
Stone Cold Steve Austin (1)
4.36
Eddie Guerrero (8)
4.28
Ric Flair (11)
4.23
The Undertaker (7)
4.22
The Steiner Brothers (n/a)
4.22*
Shawn Michaels (6)
4.21
William Regal (18)
4.1
Bret Hart (9)
4.07
Owen Hart (21)
3.95
CM Punk (16)
3.85
The Road Warriors/Legion of Doom (106)
3.74
Booker T (48)
3.72
Charlotte Flair (34)
3.69
Vince McMahon (66)
3.55
Kane (19)
3.54
Brock Lesnar (30)
3.52
Triple H (13)
3.48
John Cena (17)
3.43
Rob Van Dam (47)
3.4
Becky Lynch (28)
3.2
Ron Simmons (114)
3.18
Big Van Vader (58)
3.17
Shane McMahon (59)
3.17
A.P.A (90)
3.15
Sting (52)
3.12
The Big Boss Man(36)
3.1
Scott Steiner (55)
3.08
Stephanie McMahon (n/a)
2.36
Hulk Hogan (61)
2.33
D-X (n/a)
2.33
JBL (n/a)
1.56
And now, the man who came one spot behind Kane in the DiS top 100 list, one of the greatest promos and gimmicks to ever grace the ring, as well as being one of the great redemptive stories of wrestling history, but my word it was a long, long road to get there. I’m talking, the one, the only “you wanna play 21?”… JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS!
Slightly more palpable Match/Moments list this time too
Best Match/Moment
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs George Wells (Wrestlemania 2 NY)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (Snake Pit Match, WWF The Big Event, '86)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs King Kong Bundy (WWF MSG Show, Feb '87)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Honky Tonk Man (Wrestlemania III)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Kamala (Saturday Night’s Main Event, Apr '87)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Brutus Beefcake, Jim Duggan, Randy Savage & Ricky Steamboat vs Danny Davis, Harley Race, Hercules, Honky Tonk Man & Ron Bass (Inaugural Survivor Series Match, Nov '87)
Inaugural Royal Rumble match '88
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Rick Rude (Wrestlemania IV)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Hercules (Summerslam '88)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Rick Rude (Saturday Night’s Main Event, Oct '88)
Royal Rumble '89
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Andre The Giant (Wrestlemania V)
“The Hulkamaniacs” - Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Hulk Hogan & Demolition vs The Million Dollar Team - Ted DiBiase, The Barbarian, The Warlord & Zeus(!) (THE MAIN EVENT - in the middle of the card - of Survivor Series '89)
Royal Rumble '90
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Ted DiBiase (Million Dollar Title Match, Wrestlemania VI)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Bad News Brown (Summerslam '90)
Royal Rumble '91
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Rick Martel (Blindfold Match, Wrestlemania VII)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts (& Damian!) vs Randy Savage (This Tuesday in Texas, Dec '91)
Royal Rumble '92
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Randy Savage (Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jan '92)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs The Undertaker (Wrestlemania VIII)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Rick Rude, Big Van Vader & The Super Invader (Hercules) vs Nikita Kolof, The Steiners & Sting (8-Person Elimination Tag Match, WCW Clash of Champions XX, Sep '92)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Sting (Coal Miner’s Glove Match, Halloween Havoc '92)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Love Machine Art Barr & Miguel Perez Jr. vs Cien Caras, Konnan & Perro Aguayo (2-out-of-3 falls 6-man tag, AAA Triplemania II-B, May '94)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Dirty White Boy a.k.a T.L Hopper (SMW Volunteer Slam III, SMW Heavyweight Title)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Konnan (Hair vs Hair 2-out-of-3 Falls Match, AAA Triplemania II-C)
Royal Rumble '96
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Ahmed Johnson & Yokozuna vs Owen Hart, The British Bulldog & Vader (Wrestlemania XII)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Steve Austin (King of the Ring '96 Final, The birth of Austin 3:16)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs Jerry Lawler (Summerslam '96, w/Mark Henry defending Jake)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Marc Mero, “The Stalker” Barry Windham & the debut of Rocky Maivia vs Crush, Goldust, Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Jerry Lawler (Survivor Series '96)
Royal Rumble '97
Jake “The Snake” Roberts & The Headhunters vs Hayabusa, Jinsei Shinzaki & Masato Tanaka (6-person tag, ECW WrestleFest: 50 Years of Funk, Sep '97)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Tommy Dreamer vs Jack Victory & Justin Credible (ECW November to Remember '98)
Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Yokozuna vs Jim Neidhart & King Kong Bundy (HOW Heroes of Wrestling, Oct '99)
After 15 years of addiction, embarassment and struggle, Jake cleans up and is inducted into the Hall of Fame by his sponsor DDP (2014 class)
Jake returns to the ring to manage and mentor Lance Archer in AEW! (2019-)
0voters
(I feel bad for including Jerry trying to feed him alcohol at Summerslam '96 or the infamous Heroes of Wrestling match but it’s all part of the redemption story!)
Not gonna lie lads, when Earthquake killed Damian a young TWI cried a bit.
Great as a face, great as a heel.
Glad he’s beaten his demons as I understand it.
Should’ve really been the major foil for Hogan but Vince was afraid people would cheer Jake because he was so cool.
A thoroughly damaged man but he honed it into some of the most quietly charismatic promos of all time. Outstanding character work. Limited in the ring but always believable and probably the best finisher of all time? Obviously haunted by his demons and his legacy isn’t quite what it could’ve been. 4 for me Clive.
He was my favourite when I first started watching wrestling. I wasn’t a major snake fan and I didn’t necessarily think the tache and mullet combo was particularly cool, but I just knew he was a good guy to get behind. Most probably the interviews - he had a slow, deliberate way of speaking that was the complete opposite of most of the others. Only Adrian Adonis and Roddy Piper were as good on the mic as him and they were generally ranty.
You could see some wrestlers trying to copy his interview style - Sid Vicious for one, not particularly successful!
He never held a title, but he didn’t need to and, anyway, it was back in the times when Hogan, Savage, Honky, Demolition etc held the belts for over a year at a time.
I wasn’t a fan of the Austin 3:16 thing, but I suppose it shows he had the humility to do something like that in order to create a new legend.
5/5 - still cheer for him when I watch the old stuff.
For me, it’s a 5 for him. In his first run and a time when everyone was shouty, he was a quiet, low key character. I know this has all been said before, but he was such a departure at that time. My favourite finisher (still is). A brilliant mind for the business. No knowing how big he could have been, if he didn’t have so many issues. The snake is a huge thing, though I know that it’s quite controversial and when you hear the stories now, it’s kinda bad the way they were treated looking back now.
Listening to him doing interviews now where he talks about his character in the 80/90s and the way he pulled people in, he was always working out how to get the reaction he wanted. It’s quite magical really.
Not the greatest wrestler, but his wrestling was all psychological based, so didn’t need to be.
Don’t really have a lot to add to this one that hasn’t been said already, his career wasn’t what it should have been, he doesn’t really have any great matches but it doesn’t matter because his character and promo abilities were so good, thankfully ended up a non tragic story. A feel good 4.
will give this one more day lads, new thread tomorrow! Not many lookers amongst the poll up-thread so cherry-picked a small amount who are still worth doing (and even then a couple of them I don’t see doing) but there are some interesting results from the Kane thread to pull from anyway
the other major documentary from that time is Wrestling with Shadows, which covers Bret Hart during the Montreal Screwjob, definitely also worth a watch
